ASSESSING THE IMPACT of Brown v. Board of Education
on its 50th anniversary, Michael Eric Dyson, a nationally known
commentator on race relations, hailed the decision as a signifi
cant event in the nation’s history, but said it has fallen short of
achieving racial equality in schools.

He said suburban and inner-city schools, given funding disparities,
continue to be anything but equal. Noting the economic
gulf between white and black communities, he said poor schools
don’t have second-hand books – much less new ones – or modern
computer equipment.

“Can the superinformation highway have an off ramp
in the barrio or the hood?” he asked. “We’re trying to get
some wire.”

Dyson, the Avalon Professor of Humanities at the University
of Pennsylvania, was the keynote speaker at a symposium on
Race Jurisprudence sponsored by the Journal of Constitutional
Law. He offered his thoughts seven months after the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled on the University of Michigan’s affirmative
action policy. The symposium also drew legal scholars who discussed
the historic desegregation decision and pondered future
efforts to achieve racial balance.

Dyson called on the legal profession to end a system of racial
preference that benefits the haves and hurts the have-nots. “We
understand that affirmative action is not about giving somebody
a shot who doesn’t deserve a shot, but you must understand that
those who are victimized by the law must be defended by that
very law.”